I don't think there is one arbitrary age by which all children are ready. My daughter has just turned 3 and is still in nappies. We have been offering the potty for a good 18 months now. She knows what it is and how it works but outright refuses to use it or the toilet. Does being ready include forcing children? If it does, that's totally not for me. IMO there is not much you can do except offer lots of nappy off time, lots of opportunities to use the potty/toilet and encouragement to do so. Beyond that, you just have to wait until they are (truly) ready.

DS1 showed signs of being ready at about 2 years and we went cold turkey with pants. he did really well for three months, no accidents and then suddenly went backwards and started having accidents all the time. We spent most of a year trying to get it sorted. He's almost 7 and still occasionally dribbles on his jammies in the morning before he's fully awake, but rarely wets the bed now.

DS2 has SPD and physical issues, so no point going into his difficult journey.

DD showed signs of being ready when she was 2 so when we had warm weather we let her go naked most of the time and just went cold turkey. She did brilliantly and rarely had accidents. She's never had any problems at night unless she's ill with diarrhea.

With our children it all came on its own. We told them where the potty was, repeated it too them several times a day - Asked them if they needed a wee on the potty. After a while they just went there on their own. We had a few accidents, and we just went "oh well, go sit on the potty next time". So very casual approach worked wonders on our kids - if we tried to rush them they just completely went th eother direction and refused.

So my best advice is - go on you gut instinct on what works with your child. Take it one step at the time and expect that occasionally it will be a matter of one step forward, two steps back (not necessarily though). Have lot sof pants and trousers at the ready!

My daughter is just under 1.5, but we have a potty. I haven't started "training", but I am letting her become familiar with it. It is a simple Bjorn potty with nothing toy-like about it's appearance. I think that's important if you are getting started with a younger toddler. I keep one in the bathroom (upstairs) and one in the dining room near our half bath (not enough room in there to hang out!) but my hopes are that she associates potty time with that space. I've let her watch us go & wave good bye when we flush. My reasoning is that I had a little cousin that was terrified by the flush so I wanted her to be used to the sound & find it fun, not horrifying!! I haven't read any parenting books. I just do what feels natural with my daughter & this kind of intro to potty training is what feels right for me. The funny thing is, my in-laws seem to think I should be in full training mode while my mother thinks it's crazy to even show her the potty this early on! Everyone has a different opinion. Just do what feels right for you!

My son is 19 months and started taking his diaper off about a month ago. We use cloth and they snap on- I was surprised that he can get the snaps undone. I just keep trickier clothes on him- overalls or onesies- so that he can't disrobe whenever he gets the urge. If your daughter is wearing paper diapers, try turning them around so that the tapes are in the back. That might help.

I really don't think our son is ready for toilet training, I just think he likes to be naked. I know that many cultures do toilet training this early, so I don't doubt that it COULD be done, I just think it might be easier to wait.

@lovewn- I am also hoping to skip the potty chair phase and go straight to the toilet. Our bathroom is incredibly tiny and I just don't know where I would put a potty chair. I really do not want one in the living room or anything. I hope this is possible!

@pam- A few of my friends have done it that way- they just let the kids go pantsless till they figure it out. They give them lots of salty food and lots of juice so that they get a bunch of practice. I think this is supposed to be the quickest way. Everyone has told us not to buy pull-ups b.c they work just like diapers so the kid doesn't feel wet. When they can actually see themselves going, they apparently get it quicker.